BallReviews
Equipment Boards => Brunswick => Topic started by: dougb on October 28, 2012, 02:11:44 AM
-
I'm thinking about dropping down to 14 and starting from scratch with a new arsenal. I've tried every manufacturer and I match up best with the new Brunswick stuff. Really amazing balls.
I'm a lower revs/speed stroker who can play inside with an aggressive ball/drill but my "A" game is the outside shot. I like to be able to play both.
I'm thinking this would be a sweet 3-ball arsenal:
Med-Heavy: Aura
Benchmark: Meanstreak
Light: either a Karma Pink/Purple or a Slingshot
I never see the soup so I think this would cover me for all conditions. What do the Big B people here think?
Thanks
-
I like your choices. I am very impressed with the Aura and Meanstreak, and you can't go wrong with the Slingshot for dry.
Experience shows that you can drill the Aura and Meanstreak much stronger than normal due to their new technology. Both are cleaner through the heads than you are used to with Big B. Let me know if I can help with layouts after yours arrive.
-
I believe that's why they at releasing the two balls together? So it can be a better one two punch than the first two nexus releases..
-
Doug,
Do you really think such strong backend balls like the Aura and the Meanstreak will serve your puproses? Yes,
I can't really see the Meanstreak as a benchmark; far too flippy. The Versa-Max is closer to being a benchmark ball.
I know you said, low revs and low ball speed ....
Also I wonder if the Slingshot would move at all for that combo, without a serious short head oil and lots of dry backends.
I wonder if a
Karma Pearl (the blue/green PK 18 original)
a Versa-Max and
a Maxxed-Out
wouldn't be a better combination for you even if they aren't the newest and greatest.
-
I'm with you Charlest, I was thinking that the meanstreak as a benchmark would be a little to iffy....great ball but it has its place. My three to cover a lot of conditions for low speed/revs would be Aura (Or Nexxus @ higher surface) Versamax and Pink/Purple Karma.
-
With your lower speed and revs... I would think the Aura. If it is a little too long don't be afraid to add surface. The ball will get through the fronts. I have to agree as the Meanstreak may not be the best in that placement. The Meanstreak is great but does need some friction from what I have experienced. The Versa Max will fit that spot better. I would do a pin up drilling to retain energy longer. Then for the low end the Karma Pink/Purple would be great there. Again, I would do a pin up layout. The Aura, don't be afraid to do a stronger pin down layout. The new Aura can be drilled stronger without the worries of it being early.
-
I appreciate all of the responses!
I actually just picked up a used Versamax in 15lbs and after fixing the thumb so far have been disappointed. It has a standard 1:30 label drill and my Massive Damage with the same layout is so much more ball (a great ball, as a matter of fact). I've tried it at 1000 polished, 2000, and now 500/compound. I just added some polish and will try it at that. The ball was cheap so it was a worthwhile experiment.
Right now I pretty much use two balls. The first is a Raven Quantum with a strong label leverage layout at 1000 polished. This ball enables me to play as deep as I want and seemingly has no out-of-bounds. I get great length and a strong backend. The Raven has a high RG and differential like the Meanstreak, which is why I am interested in that ball (2.587 and 0.047 vs. 2.557 and 0.048).
My second ball is a Faball Norm Duke Signature Hammer. It's a high RG/low differential piece with a lightbulb core and a weak solid reactive cover (think Teal Rhino Pro). The ball is drilled with cg in palm and pin under bridge. I have it at 500/compound/highly polished. With this ball I can stand far right and play the twig all day while others chase the oil left. This is actually my "A" game and the ball walks right to the pocket no matter where I put it. I'm thinking a Slingshot with a similar layout would serve the same purpose.
For my middle ball I have a Massive Damage and Rhino Pro Gold, both label drills, but neither see much use.
Sorry I don't have the pin-to-PAP distance on these. My driller does. But my PAP is 4 3/8" away and 1/16" up for what it's worth.
You can see I have far too many balls right now and really prefer the old school stuff these days. But with the exception of the Versamax, every single new Brunswick release I've tried has been money in the bank. If I sell my 15s I can certainly afford to buy a few new 14s!
-
Okay guys I take back everything I said about the Versa Max! I took it back to OOB (500/compound/polish) and shot 299 today on a freshly oiled house shot ($#@*& 7 pin!). Standing on 22 and watching it break smoothly and consistently at the 10. I guess the carry problems I was having was the ball burning out... I didn't realize how strong the cover is on it.
I am seriously starting to think that Big B's new stuff is so good that I will be forced to retire my old Big B stuff!
YOU GUYS WERE RIGHT!
-
Well, this Versamax is so good now I'm wondering how the Aura and Meanstreak would fit with it? Remember my Versamax has your standard label drill, so it is a great benchmark ball. An aggressively drilled Meanstreak seems like it'd be good for when I want to open the lane up some more than I can with the VM but get the length I need due to my lower speed. I could polish up my Massive Damage for light to medium conditions and use the Aura for the heavier stuff. What do you think?
-
The Aura would be stronger than the Versamax by several boards. With the lower speed/revs, I would slot that as your heavier condition ball. Versamax would be your benchmark, and then go with the Karma or Slingshot as you were thinking originally. The Massive Damage wouldn't be bad polished up in that spot either.
One other option instead of the Aura is getting the Maxxed-Out. It has the same core as the Versamax with the only difference being that it has a lower RG number. Plus it has a stronger cover. This combo will give you pretty much the same ability to cover the lane as the Aura would, except you wont have to pay Pro Performance level pricing.
Also, since you are familiar with how the Versamax works already, there really wouldn't be a learning curve here- figure around 4-8 boards stronger and there you go.